A slide show of the aftermath of Katrina

PREAMBLE to the Iraqi constitution

We the sons of Mesopotamia, land of the prophets, resting place of the holy imams, the leaders of civilization and the creators of the alphabet, the cradle of arithmetic: on our land, the first law put in place by mankind was written; in our nation, the most noble era of justice in the politics of nations was laid down; on our soil, the followers of the prophet and the saints prayed, the philosophers and the scientists theorized and the writers and poets created.

Recognizing God's right upon us; obeying the call of our nation and our citizens; responding to the call of our religious and national leaders and the insistence of our great religious authorities and our leaders and our reformers, we went by the millions for the first time in our history to the ballot box, men and women, young and old, on Jan. 30, 2005, remembering the pains of the despotic band's sectarian oppression of the majority; inspired by the suffering of Iraq's martyrs _ Sunni and Shiite, Arab, Kurd and Turkomen, and the remaining brethren in all communities _ inspired by the injustice against the holy cities in the popular uprising and against the marshes and other places; recalling the agonies of the national oppression in the massacres of Halabja, Barzan, Anfal and against the Faili Kurds; inspired by the tragedies of the Turkomen in Bashir and the suffering of the people of the western region, whom the terrorists and their allies sought to take hostage and prevent from participating in the elections and the establishment of a society of peace and brotherhood and cooperation so we can create a new Iraq, Iraq of the future, without sectarianism, racial strife, regionalism, discrimination or isolation.

Terrorism and "takfir" (declaring someone an infidel) did not divert us from moving forward to build a nation of law. Sectarianism and racism did not stop us from marching together to strengthen our national unity, set ways to peacefully transfer power, adopt a manner to fairly distribute wealth and give equal opportunity to all.

We the people of Iraq, newly arisen from our disasters and looking with confidence to the future through a democratic, federal, republican system, are determined _ men and women, old and young _ to respect the rule of law, reject the policy of aggression, pay attention to women and their rights, the elderly and their cares, the children and their affairs, spread the culture of diversity and defuse terrorism.

We are the people of Iraq, who in all our forms and groupings undertake to establish our union freely and by choice, to learn yesterday's lessons for tomorrow, and to write down this permanent constitution from the high values and ideals of the heavenly messages and the developments of science and human civilization, and to adhere to this constitution, which shall preserve for Iraq its free union of people, land and sovereignty.



read the entire document

60 years ago

Momentum and Collisional Energy Considerations
of Cryogenically Stored Twinkies(R). Abstract

We believe that the internal structural properties of TWINKIES
can be effectively studied through cryogenic alteration of their
intrinsic elasticity followed by application of sudden shocks.
We have discovered two phenomena which may be worthy
of further investigation --
Twinkie Fission and Twinkie Adhesion Molecular Effect (TAME).
Each are described in detail and commented upon.

click here to read abstract

In Popstrology my birthsatar is.....

Bobby "Boris" Pickett and
the Crypt-Kickers Monster Mash





Let me know what your birthstar is and does it make sense.


Find out your birthstar

"Adopting an attitude of universal responsibility
is essentially a personal matter.
The real test of compassion is not what we say in
abstract discussions but how we conduct
ourselves in daily life."

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama,


One of the ways I choose to show compassion is prayer.

What do you choose?

click here to see what this rose is made of.

Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical
practice. Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is surrender of
attachment to results, because there follows immediate
peace.

-Bhagavad Gita 12:12

Obituary of the future?



Nov. 10, 2009
Reeves – Keanu (45) died of dehydration on the front lawn
of his home in the Hollywood hills Tuesday morning.
The 45-year-old actor reportedly accepted a challenge from
fellow actor and former co-star Gary Busey, who claimed Reeves

“couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag.”

Reeves spent his final four days in a 8 x 5 foot brown sack
deprived of food and water. Witnesses passing by Reeves’
home said they could faintly hear the “actor” reading scenes
from the famed works of Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams,
but claimed he “just wasn’t believable,” due to his rigid delivery
and surfer dialect. Others pointed out that his performance
suffered greatly from its complete absence of special effects.
Keanu Reeves leaves behind his mother, Patricia, his father,
Sam, and two sisters, Karina and Kim. The name “Keanu,”
given to him by his father, means “cool breeze over the mountains”
in Hawaiian. However, in English, “Keanu” means “extremely fu---ble.”
Reeves’ ashes are to be set to sea off the coast of the island of Maui.








via Jest

You're Ireland!

Mystical and rain-soaked, you remain mysterious to many people, and this
makes you intriguing.  You also like a good night at the pub, though many are just as
worried that you will blow up the pub as drink your beverage of choice.  You're good
with words, remarkably lucky, and know and enjoy at least fifteen ways of eating a potato.
 You really don't like snakes.
Take the Country Quiz at
the Blue Pyramid

"America will never be destroyed from the outside.
If we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

- Abraham Lincoln